Edy Reja is confident Lazio “can challenge anyone. I could not have asked for more” after a 2-2 draw away to Milan.

Miroslav Klose and Djibril Cissè had put the visitors 2-0 up within 22 minutes, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Antonio Cassano fought back.

“I could not have asked for more from my squad,” said Coach Reja after the final whistle in Serie A's opening game.

“We showed some fantastic football for the first half-hour, then lost pace after the break, although we still managed to hang on.

“When you come here to Milan and create so many scoring opportunities, it means you had a good game. The result seems fair to me.

“We've got to understand that when attacking we also need to stop them going on the counter, which means more work from everyone at certain times.

“It's a shame, as with a little more focus we could've ended the first half in the lead. We proved that we can challenge anyone and stay in the top spots of the table, although it'll take a few more games to understand our real worth.

“If we play at the tempo of the first half-hour, then we can compete against everyone.”